Memory for multimodal picture-sound items
Influences of congruency, identifiability and cognitive ageing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21284067 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Stephen P Badham (0000-0002-6890-102X, Nottingham Trent University, corresponding author), Christopher Atkin (0000-0001-5086-1173, Nottingham Trent University), Harriet A Allen (0000-0002-3447-0137, University of Nottingham), Jemaine E Stacey (0000-0003-4035-712X, University of Leicester), Helen Henshaw (0000-0002-0547-4403, University of Nottingham), Katherine L Roberts (0000-0002-8735-2249, Nottingham Trent University) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 266 |
| Pages | 106876 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Acta Psychologica (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0001-6918 • E-ISSN: 1873-6297 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.actpsy.2026.106876 |
| PMID | 42013759 |
| OpenAlex | W4411440260 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 46 |
Multimodal perception can often evoke performance that is greater than the sum of its unimodal parts in cognitive tasks. For example, choice reaction time research has found responses to multimodal stimuli that are faster than could be explained by responses to its individual unimodal components. This has led to a growth in multimodal perceptual research to explain behavioural observations, but less is known about multimodal influences on more cognitively demanding tasks such as semantic activation and memory. Across 3 well-powered pre-registered memory experiments (total n = 792), this study tested if multimodal encoding could reduce perceptual demands, evoke semantic processing, and encourage episodic recollection. In Experiment 1 the presence of congruent visual information aided later unimodal auditory retrieval (e.g., a dog picture and a barking sound), but multimodal manipulations had similar effects across young and older adults. Experiment 2 equated auditory only and visual only memory for picture-sound items by utilising blurring of the visual pictures, generating a novel shared stimulus set. Here there was no benefit to multimodal encoding, and identifiability of a given stimulus was more strongly related to memory following multimodal encoding than memory following unimodal encoding. Experiment 3 utilised the remember-know paradigm and found no specific multimodal encoding effects on episodic remembering, but did find that item identifiability was more strongly linked to recollection than to familiarity. Our data highlight how multimodal processing is nuanced and supports a general need for multimodal research to explain wholistic sensory processing
Acoustics · Ageing · Cognition · Cognitive aging · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Identifiability · Sound (geography) · Computer Science · Design Education and Practice · Medicine · Neuroscience · Psychology · Speech and dialogue systems · Visual and Cognitive Learning Processes
Recollection and familiarity
Data quality in online human-subjects research
Encoding specificity and retrieval processes in episodic memory.
The Nature of Recollection and Familiarity
Gorilla in our midst
Benefits of multisensory learning
The neurobiology of semantic memory
Object memory is multisensory
Does multisensory study benefit memory for pictures and sounds
The older population is more cognitively able than in the past and age-related deficits in cognition are diminishing over time
Age Deficits in Associative Memory Are Not Alleviated by Multisensory Paradigms
Effects of multisensory study on long-term memory for pictures and sounds
Inhibitory effect of schematic processing on perceptual encoding
| Highly cited | No |
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